Electrostatic reproduction involves an electrostatically-formed latent image on a photoconductive member, or photoreceptor. The latent image is developed by bringing charged developer materials into contact with the photoconductive member. The developer materials can include two-component developer materials including carder particles and charged toner particles for such as “hybrid scavengeless development” having an image-on-image development. The developer materials can also include single-component developer materials including only toner particles. The toner particles are transferred to the photoconductive member from a toner cloud generated during the development process.
The toned image on the photoconductive member is advanced to a transfer station where an image-receiving substrate such as a sheet of paper is moved into contact with the photoconductive member to transfer the image via any suitable process. The image-receiving substrate is then advanced to a fusing station to fix or fuse the toner material onto the image-receiving substrate permanently by heat.
Conventional fusing stations include a fuser roll and a pressure roll to fuse the toner to the substrate. Over time, contamination can build up on the surface of the fuser roll. Specifically, toner resin build-up on the fuser roll from various forms of offset, gelled oil, pigment staining, and Zinc Fumarate, a byproduct of additives and toner resin. Further, the contamination can lead to a pigment building up on the fuser roll or penetration of the top-coat material.
Toner release agents can also be applied to the fuser roll to aid in the removal of toner from the fuser roll. The toner release agents can be comprised of conventional substances and can be applied by way of a donor roll. The configuration and materials of the donor and fuser rolls can lead to an accumulation of an electrostatic charge in the fuser roll system, specifically on the donor roll. The accumulation can exacerbate the build-up of the toner resin, the pigment, and other forms of contamination on the surface of the fuser roll over the life of the roll.
Thus, there is a need to overcome these and other problems of the prior art and to provide a system, method, and apparatus to reduce premature fuser roll failure by reducing the contamination build-up or rate of build up on the fuser roll.